AMD Radeon R9 270X Graphics Card Review

We took AMD’s $300 Radeon R9 280X for a spin last week and were left quite impressed overall with the results, versus the GTX 760. Will we get the same sort of reaction with the company’s Radeon R9 270X? With the help of NVIDIA’s ~$175 GeForce GTX 660, we’re going to find that out.

Game Tests: Metro Last Light, Sleeping Dogs

Crysis has become infamous for punishing even top-end systems, but let’s be fair: The Metro series matches, if not exceeds its requirement for graphical horsepower. That was proven by the fact that we used Metro 2033 in our testing for a staggering three years – only to be replaced by its sequel, Last Light. I’m not particularly a fan of this series, but I am in awe of its graphics even at modest settings.

1920×1080 (1 Monitor)

5760×1080 (3×1 Monitors)

Manual Run-through: Because this game is a real challenge to benchmark with for both the reasons of variability in the results and the raw challenge, I choose to use the built-in benchmark here. Unfortunately, this benchmark doesn’t match some of the more intensive parts of the game, especially with levels such as “The Chase”, so please bear that in mind.

NVIDIA’s GTX 660 falls behind the 270X in all but the multi-monitor test, where both cards could be considered the same. As mentioned above though, this benchmark is admittedly not the best sort of test with this game, so from experience of playing through a couple of levels, I can say these cards will be best-suited for 1080p at these detail levels.

Sleeping Dogs

Many have called Sleeping Dogs (our review) the “Asian Grand Theft Auto“, but the game does a lot of things differently that helps it stand out of the crowd. For example, in lieu of supplying the player with a gazillion guns, Sleeping Dogs focuses heavily on hand-to-hand combat. There are also many collectibles that can be found to help upgrade your character and unlock special fighting abilities – and if you happen to enjoy an Asian atmosphere, this game should fit the bill.

1920×1080 (1 Monitor)

5760×1080 (3×1 Monitors)

Manual Run-through: The run here takes place during the chapter “Amanda”, on a dark, dank night. The saved game begins us at the first apartment in the game (in North Point), though that’s not where I begin capturing the framerate. Instead, I first request our motorcycle from the garage. Once set, I begin recording the framerate and drive along a specific path all the way to Aberdeen, taking about two minutes.

Sleeping Dogs is a game built with AMD hardware in mind, and these results prove it. With all three of our resolutions, the $200 270X matches the $250 GTX 760.